The word moving has many different applications in the English language. Depending on the context and the situation, it could be good or bad. If you are like me, moving, as in the whole freakin' house including toys, bikes, photos, rabbits and dogs, that is the bad sucky week from hell type of moving.

If you haven't had a #2 in a few days, moving is good, really good. If it's been 20 minutes, it's not so good. The up side is weighing in right after.

Then there are moving violations, moving trucks, moving day, movin', movies, movements, moved by the Spirit or emotion and moving as in doing something with your body besides sitting on the couch. (We are still going to count sitting on the toilet as moving so there are no locked message boards)

How do you get moving? Why does it matter? Well, if you are here to lose weight, it probably doesn't matter. If you are making a lifestyle change and working on getting fit, moving your blood and your butt is important.

Ask yourself this: if runners can walk, then how come walkers can't run?

How fast your heart beats is very important to cardiovascular health. I am not going to argue with walkers; it's surely better than sitting on the couch. But it is not better than types of cardio which significantly increase your aerobic capacity (as does fast swimming, biking, soccer, Zumba, basketball and hockey etc.)

Most fit atheletes have resting pulse rates in the 50s. Most obese people have them in the 60s or low 70s.

Cardio exercise is good for you because it increases your aerobic capacity by growing more capillaries, which in turn moves your blood more efficiently, which causes your heart to work less. It also strengthens the heart which is a muscle. And supposedly it stimulates t-cells which fight disease. I also watched a documentary that said that a minute of all out exercise can increase your ability to process fats like cholesterol. The problem with an all out minute is injury.

Exercise which raises your heart rate for periods of time greater than 15 minutes and shorter than an hour, are very good for you. Using varying speeds or intensities seems to be better for weight loss (along with strength training!)

So it's time to get moving! Just go easy and walk before you run.

I use a heart rate monitor, and you might consider one too. It's not magic, but it should give you a solid idea if you are in the zone or not. To get into the zone you are probably going to sweat (even if you swim).

I was reading this and I think when Dr Oz dies from some fad diet, I can take his place.

Thanks for the votes and comments!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you like this blog, you might want to consider reading my new book - but at least watch the video and have a smile or two. It's HERE.

Did you ever wonder what food creates the most sensual body shots? Maybe you wanted to know the most common injuries incurred during pole dancing and why the treadmill isn't much safer. Maybe you want to be entertained by my listless and neurotic self-talk as I pump myself up to run a marathon.

I try to answer some of the most important questions about life and weight-loss in my new book.

Maybe you already know that I suffered congestive heart failure in April of 2011. Or that I write hospital ER and OR reviews (not really). Or that I can help you prepare for a plethora of surgical procedures and give first-hand pharmaceutical advice.

I am also hoping that you won't find out that I am not as funny as I think I am.

I have been blogging for quite a long time. Here on MFP, it's been 2 years. Somewhere along the way, I have been encouraged to write a book about my weight-loss, my running, and my recovery from heart disease - by the same experts passionate members that post in the forums.

In it you can read about a 5K race where I ran behind a pooping poodle. There is a story about the time my pants fell down in the security line at the airport. It's actually not all that funny. The good news is that I had on clean underwear which made it bearable for the other passengers.

One of the things I loved about doing the Kickstarter video was that after I had asked my daughter to keep quiet during the filming, she had an urgent need - all captured in the background audio! Even if you don't care about the book, be sure to skip ahead to the video outtakes.

To those who have encouraged me, we are in this together. Thank you for your kind words, blog comments, well wishes and prayers. We have 34 days left to get this done. Here is where to pre-order your copy.

I have been around MFP for a while now. Honestly, there was a lot I did not know about weight loss, health and fitness - and running before I signed on. I had been fed a bunch of half-truths and marketing lies for so long, I thought it was fact.

Education, experience and listening to your body is the foundation of living a healthy lifestyle!

Recently I was reading some websites that claimed to have the facts about all the aforementioned topics. These were not experts like you find in the forums, they were medical professionals!

I have always wanted to be an expert, but I've decided that being an example is far better!

In my experience and expert opinion, here are some things that should be obvious about living a healthy and fit lifestyle.

- If all calories are the same, then why do we care what they taste like?

- If you put sugar in healthy food, it's still sugar.

- If the directions to the pesticide say "wear protective gear when applying," it can't disappear by magic in the fruit stand.

- If walking 3 miles has the same value as running 3 miles, how come the walkers can't run 3 miles?

- If there is no gain without pain, why do we avoid pain?

- If loosing weight is the goal, then why don't they call it MyWeightLossPal.com?

- If pole dancing is a low-impact exercise, why are there so many Pole Dancing Fail videos on YouTube?

- If it is a fact that being overweight (or obese) is a risk for serious health problems, how come people protect their right to be overweight?

- If you can't do it for a week, why do you think you can do it for life?

- If getting fit is not fun, does that mean we should avoid it?

- If there is low hanging fruit, that doesn't mean there is low hanging pizza.

- If running is bad for your knees, how come we don't hear about marathoners getting knee replacements?

- If we don't know what we've got until we lose it, we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.

- If nothing is impossible, how come you can't slam a revolving door?

- If you find a donut in the woods, it was probably eaten by a bear.

Thanks for the votes and comments.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Kickstarter video for my new book is just around the corner. Follow the progress on http://www.marathonproject.com

If it weren't for freakin' leap year, today would be 2 years since I logged into MFP daily - that includes logging my food not just being an expert in the forums. If you have nothing to do for the next 2 hours, my friends can check out my log.

730 days? I get asked if it's a record. The answer is hardly.

The truth is, like so many of you, I came on here to lose weight. I had congestive heart failure a few months later, and that changed my focus from becoming a male stripper, to getting fit so that I could see my youngest off into the wonders of adulthood.

I have learned a lot since I got here. Like WTG is not a typo for WTF and NSV is Non-Scale Victory and not "No Sexy Virgin." Context is vitally important. I have learned to most weight-losers gain back an average of 73% of whatever they lost, and that just about everyone fails within 5 years.

That really sucks!

During my second year I was down to 203 - within view of one-derland. And then the unthinkable, the scale started going back up. It hovers at about 208, but my waist is 3" smaller, my quads are almost 5" inches bigger, my feet and most everything else remains the same.

The cardiologist is thrilled with my heart's condition, and my blood work is excellent - all without taking supplements. Except for a mild flu, I have not been sick at all this year.

In year 2, I set a new PR for the 10K; running it in under and hour, ran my first half marathon, and now I am training for my first marathon in the fall! I log 35+ miles a week running, I don't record walking, strength train 2 days a week doing body weight exercises, and log my food on MFP.

Oh yeah, and not only was I able to get fit by putting in the effort, prayer, and support from you all, I feel better than I have in 30 years.

Here are a couple of pics too.

That's me at 276 pounds. Summer 2010

That's me at 214 pounds.

Thanks to everyone that has commented on my blogs, posts, and comments. Thanks for getting me through my heart recovery and knee surgery, C25K and B210K, my first 1/2 as well as the Bermuda Triangle: Thanksgiving Christmas, and New Years.

I guess the best part of MFP is the inspiration I get from those that are still ahead of me, and the fellowship with those that take the chance to friend request me.

Let me start by apologizing for the screwing up of a near perfect alliteration in my title. As weight losers, humans, athletes and wannabe athletes, we face many decisions during our journey. Some of those decisions you would think would be no-brainers, however; based on the staggering amount of controversial health and fitness posts in cyberspace, that is not at all the case.

Excuse me a moment while I put on my own guru hat.

Challenges: There are dozens of them every day. What do we eat? When should we eat? What should we do if we blow it? How should we train? How much cardio? How much strength training? How many long runs? Are these running shoes cute? What underwear chafes less? Do avocados make you fart?

There seems to be science to back up every position, which makes getting it right, overwhelming.

The best approach to managing challenges is to have a plan. A plan needs to have a goal such as losing 20 pounds, training to finish a 5K in under 30 minutes, or to bench press a baby elephant - that sort of thing. Then the plan needs bite size steps. No matter what you are doing, if you can't make it a priority, it will continue to challenge you, and probably defeat you too. Make a schedule to reach your goal and adjust it as needed.

It's OK to switch your long run day to one that is sunny instead of a blizzard-ing.

Facts: Fact just are. They are true and never predicated on theory. Most of our science seems to be based on the logical outcome of selected facts. That is junk science. (seems to work for politics and religion too) Real science takes into consideration, all the facts. An anecdotal outcome such as I drank 10 cups of water and only peed out 6 does not specifically mean that you retained 4 cups of water. The point is there are other ways for the water to escape the body. And when it comes to water, there are many sources unless you are only eating celery powder. Oh - and here's a tip: don't drink out of the same cup you peed in.

Do you want facts? Use a tape measure, a measuring cup and a food scale.

The bottom line is that each one of us is metabolically different, and that is a fact. Some are prone to gain weight depending on their protein/carbohydrate /fat intake ratio. Some are sensitive to sodium, others are not. Some have a thyroid problem, and others have a sugar addiction; we are all different.Fiction: Worse than junk science is outcome based logic which is not backed by facts. There are a lot of hypotheses regarding calories, weight loss, marathon training and other health related issues. Although the basic math of calories in/calories out holds an overall truth, it is pretty much fiction because all calories are not created equally. Caloric labels, treadmill displays, and Garmin HRMs are all educated guesses which can be used as a guide. They are pure fiction.

The fiction is based on how caloric content is measured. Basically the testers incinerate the food, but that is not exactly how it happens in a your body. At least one study showed that people who ate the exact same amount of calories of salmon vs beef, showed slightly greater weight loss. I can attest to the fact that it is much easier to burn 80/20 burgers than it is a piece of salmon when grilling.

The bottom line, it does matter what types of food you eat.

When it comes to training and running, most plans are based on some sort of mathematical progression and not on any actual physiological evidence, except that if you have an injury, you pushed it too hard.Fallacy: Be very skeptical if instant results, magic pill diets and train for 3 days a week marathon training plans. For every person that could possibly achieve those results, there are thousands who cannot.

I am not even convinced that a 1 or 2 pound a week weight loss number is ideal. The truth is no matter what plan you use, what diet, what training you force yourself to do, you will gain back 73% of what you lost for one reason, and one reason alone: You stopped doing what was working.

Did I say you need to adjust your plan to meet your goal?

I lost 30 pounds in 3 months by adding a little exercise (90 minutes a week) and cutting calories. I actually had a couple of 4+ pound loss weeks. I have never gained it back in 2 years time.

The point is this, we need to choose a lifestyle of good foods and regular, and increasing cardio with a mix of solid strength training.

Which brings me to my first point. The challenge is setting a goal with obtainable steps.

Thank you for commenting and voting!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Kickstarter video for my new book is just around the corner. Follow the progress on http://www.marathonproject.com